Scored Some Wheel Weights

[Rich/WIS]

Was at out local scrap dealer the other day and he had WW's for 60 cents a pound, all clip on type. Bought 110 pounds. He still had about 1/3 of a 55 gallon drum full, was thinking to get more but not sure if this is a good price. Have been using range lead (free) but our club is going to redo the berms this year and the changes will make it tough to get range lead easily. If 60 cents pound is a good price was thinking it might be smart to stock up while they are available.

[gamedog53]

Around us WW are getting harder to find. I would offer 50 cents a lb but if he said no I would still buy all he had at 60 cents.

[sandman228]

.60 a pound isn't bad in my opinion if there already sorted .I prefer to go to garages and tire shops ive gotten them for free at some places just this morning I scored about 50 -60 lb I asked the guy how much he said it didn't matter I handed him a 10 dollar bill he was very happy with that .then ive had others that want 45$ a bucket still worth it in my opinion .the last wheel weights I bought from a scrap yard they charged me .80 a pound I only bought 50 lb or so but the nice thing was they were already sorted .there were only 2 unusable wheel weights in the whole 50 lb

[bangerjim]

60 is not bad for Pb-only weights. Any more and it gets too high.

Remember you must factor in your gasoline cost to and from, fuel to melt them, and all the time to sort (look for those Zinkers!) and ingotize them.

I gave up on tire stores and COWW's almost 2 years ago when Zn and Fe became very prominent in what we have here. And the dirt and hassle of re-melting them. I mix my alloys from clean elemental metals and alloys to get what I want.

Now........get out the and start melting!!!!!!


banger

[taco650]

I paid $20 for a 5 gallon bucket that about 3/5 full of mostly lead WW's from a small local tire store (guessing it was about 80lbs). All sorted now (and some smelted) I got about 3 large coffee cans of clip-ons, about 1 large can of stick-ons, a 2/3 full milk jug of steel and half a large peanut butter jar of Zinc. I also got some trash but I felt the price was good and glad to have the lead. I'm a low volume shooter and not picky about the alloy (for now anyway).

My question is, how much harder are the clip-ons than the stick-ons? I've heard the stick-ons are somewhat softer but that was on the internet.

[Yodogsandman]

taco650, They are but see this sticky...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...On-WW-XrF-Data

[RogerDat]

I paid $20 for a 5 gallon bucket that about 3/5 full of mostly lead WW's from a small local tire store (guessing it was about 80lbs)..... I also got some trash but I felt the price was good and glad to have the lead. I'm a low volume shooter and not picky about the alloy (for now anyway).

My question is, how much harder are the clip-ons than the stick-ons? I've heard the stick-ons are somewhat softer but that was on the internet.

You have to look at what you get in terms of casting ingots and overall cost to decide if it works for you. Or put another way will the number of bullets you will get to cast be worth the money and the work to you. A lot is made about this price or that being a good price but really 5 or 10 cents difference per lb. of finished lead works out to $50 to $100 for a 1000 lbs. of lead.

That is the one downside to buckets of WW's the amount of lead yield can vary a great deal. Compare what you end up with to the ready made WW ingots some on the forum sell for about $1 a lb. If you are taking a long term view to accumulate a nice big stash extrapolate that price difference/work involved of the different sources over how many lbs. you are going to accumulate.

Stick on WW's are a BHN hardness of 6 the Clip on are a BHN of 12. SOWW's are almost plain lead, too soft for bullets except muzzle loaders. COWW's are hard enough to use as rifle bullets as is or can be cut 50/50 with the SOWW's for pistol at moderate velocity. Especially if you throw a little tin in to bring the mix up to 1 or 2% tin. Tin alloys with the COWW antimony to yield harder alloy and one that flows well.

[taco650]

taco650, They are but see this sticky...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...On-WW-XrF-Data

That's a great link! I'm glad I separated the stick on from the clip on. Off to smelting now... weather permitting LOL! High today is supposed to be 36 which is cold for middle GA.

[konsole]

I got really lucky on my last trip out for weights. A place that services public school vehicles had 3 full buckets with a total weight of 460-lb, and I gave him $100 for it. After I got it all home and sorted, the buckets had only about 10-lb zinc weights and 20-lb of steel. After subtracting the weight of the buckets themselves and probably about 10-lb per bucket in clips, the end result should be that 80% of that 460-lb is lead.